Tuesday’s Campaign Round-Up, 4.1.14

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* In retirement news, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) announced yesterday that he’s stepping down at the end of the term.

* Appointed Sen. Brian Schatz (D) is facing a tough primary challenge from Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D) in Hawaii, but as expected, the incumbent is picking up the party establishment’s support. Schatz received endorsements yesterday from President Obama – a Hawaii native – and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

* In Nebraska’s heated Republican Senate primary, far-right activist groups have backed different candidates, but that’s starting to change. FreedomWorks has decided to drop its support for former Treasurer Shane Osborn and instead back Midland University President Ben Sasse.

* In North Carolina’s Republican Senate primary, Karl Rove’s American Crossroads is intervening, launching ads in support of state Assembly Speaker Thom Tillis.

* On a related note, Greg Brannon, another far-right Senate hopeful in North Carolina, has done an impressive job scrubbing the Internet of his background and bizarre, published conspiracy theories. As BuzzFeed discovered, Brannon once ran a website called “FoundersTruth.org,” which is now excluded from the Wayback Machine that pulls from out-of-cached versions of old sites.

* It would have been hard to predict a few years ago, but Rep. Mark Sanford (R) is now in such good political shape, he’s running unopposed in 2014.

* And this election year, the Republican Party of Virginia has reportedly fallen on hard financial times – it has only $70,000 in the bank – and it has no statewide GOP officials to help it boost its fundraising.